We’re planning a docent get-together for some time in late February. The exact time and place is yet to be announced. We want to spend about 4 hours refreshing our “skills” and reconnecting before the spring session of student visits.You won’t want to miss this meeting as it will be packed full of information and updates about our educational mission, everyday happenings at the nature center and of course great food and fellowship.
Stay tuned for the specifics. Please contact Don Culwell if your contact information has changed. We don’t want you to miss out on this!
Happy New Year from the Gates-Rogers Foundation board members. We wanted to take a minute to thank those of you who follow the South Fork Nature Center’s newsletter. We know that many of you donate your time, talents and financial support to help keep SFNC up and running. We value your contributions and know that without your support our job as board members would be much harder, if not impossible.
We think that 2017 is going to be an exciting year at SFNC. We especially value one of our partners, the US Fish And Wildlife Service, who have helped in our glade restoration and butterfly habitat restoration project. 2017 promises to bring new partnerships with new projects that will enhance the learning at SFNC. We as a board are constantly working to make SFNC a facility the community will be proud of. We’ve enjoyed working with many different regional school districts this past year. We want to nurture our established relationships and work hard to expand to additional school districts. The educators that bring their students to SFNC appreciate the importance of a field-based learning experience.
We at SFNC value our visitors! We would love to hear from you. Have a question, comment or an idea for a program at SFNC? Do you want to be a docent or a grounds volunteer? Maybe you want to schedule a field trip for your class or organization. You can contact us through our email or call our office phone number listed on our webpage. A member of the GRF board would be happy to return your call or email. Most of all we hope you’ll visit SFNC and experience the natural beauty in your own backyard!
A short story about enjoying and maintaining the trails at Southfork Nature Center: Leaf removal
Phil Wanz
“…Many people wouldn’t understand why, on my only day off, would I be out working away my afternoon. In many cases if people ask that question, they wouldn’t understand the answer. For me, I can think ahead, all the young children who will be walking these paths, they won’t know who or even think about somebody who blew all the leave off the trails, but I know…”
To get to the nature Center, Larry Price and I drove I-40 to Morrilton and took the hwy 9 north exit. For me this has always been a very scenic drive, through many twists and turns. We made our way through the town of Solgohachia, I have wanted to stop here many times and take photos. We arrived at Choctaw and crossed over hwy 65 onto hwy 330. Before we knew it, we were parked by the cabin at the Nature Center.
We quickly unloaded a bacpac blower and one handheld blower. In the cabin we got out another bacpac blower Larry was going to use. We decided to start on the most used trail, he went one way, I went the other. It was slow going at times with very deep layers of leaves that took many attempts to blow off the trail. Also at the bottom of some piles was a heavy mat that resisted being blown away. Other places it was much quicker going.
I soon met up with Larry, with the lake on one side and a pretty glade on the other. I saw Larry had his handheld blower, he said the other one quit working, bummer I thought. We shut down both blowers and started back towards the cabin and more gas. I asked Larry, do you hear that high pitched noise, or I’m going crazy. He told me he heard it also, whew I thought. Back at the cabin I suggested we pour out the old gas in the bacpac blower that quit and try it with new gas, presto, it worked. We had to search for a suitable container for the old gas, we finally found an old glass container with a working lid. I realized I still heard the noise, it was coming from me, what the, turns out it was my camera. Larry suggested to take out the battery and of course the noise stopped.
Another note I want to bring up, Larry forgot any type hearing protection. I was happy to tell him I brought two ear muffs. Me, I wore ear plugs plus the ear muffs. If you attend a event such at this, bring ear protection for yourself and maybe extra. if you have it, for others. I try to always have extra gloves also, hats, water etc…
We got both blowers going again and started up another trail, this time he was in the lead, I followed. I was able all during this to admire the many beautiful sights. All this time rain was wanting to fall but held off (it drizzled on us driving to the center.) I ran out of gas while Larry pushed on. We got back to the road, turned off Larry’s blower. I joked that he got better mpg with his then the one I had. Mine was pushing out at 40 mph while his somewhat less. As we walked back to the cabin we talked of many things.
One was how many people wouldn’t understand why, on my only day off, would I be out working away my afternoon. In many cases if people ask that question, they wouldn’t understand the answer. For me, I can think ahead, all the young children who will be walking these paths, they won’t know who or even think about somebody who blew all the leave off the trails, but I know, and that is the key to the understanding of why.
As we packed up, secured the cabin, a drizzle started which on the drive home turned into heavy rain. We had to very carefully pack that glass container, Larry joked it was like packing nitro, yikes I thought, wouldn’t want that in the back of his truck. He got it tied in and boxed-in so it wouldn’t move. As we started back the day was beginning to fade. We made our way through Solgohachia in the dark. Back on the great I-40, it quickly got us home. I know Larry will agree with me, a great time it was, good fellowship and we can pat ourselves on the back for a deed well done.
A look inside our efforts…
• Public walking trails (2 mi.)
• Nature appreciation programs & Docent-Guided Tours, Spring-Fall
• Historic conservation (Almeda Riddle cabin)
• Habitat initiatives (Pollinator meadows & Milkweed cultivation)
• Data collection for plant & animal species & climate records
• Outdoor Classrooms & Field-Based Education Framework
• Regional school outreach
• Annual Greers Ferry Lake shoreline cleanup (Sept)
• Annual Butterfly release (Spring)
• Building partnerships with regional conservation initiatives
• So much more!
Interested in pitching in? Get a little exercise & fresh air, get to know more about the nature programs in action, and help the trails & facilities in tip-top shape! Ask about docent & volunteer opportunities.
We’re a little proud of our new & improved Weather Station!
It’s been moved to a new location. The sensors are now attached to an aluminum frame and the wiring for the soil thermometer is enclosed in metal conduit to prevent fire damage. The new location is between the NE most milkweed plots because of good milkweed stands last year. Instructions on how to record weather data are attached to the data clipboard. The GPS location is N 35⁰ 33.436 W 092⁰ 22.820.
Marc C. Hirrel, Leopold Education Project State Coordinator, SFNC Docent
A plaque on the stone archway leading to the Jewel Moore Nature Reserve reads,
The objective is to teach the student to see the land, to understand what he sees, and enjoy what he understands. – Aldo Leopold, 1942.
Like Jewel Moore and hundreds of other nature reserves and centers such as ours, Leopold’s philosophy and teachings are the nutrients our roots draw from the land that is South Fork. Teacher, above all and foremost, Leopold taught through “the Land”. He was all about turning kids loose to read the landscape. At SFNC, we say,”Teach Outside, No classroom required!!” There’s curricula in a turned over log, a textbook under every tree, and a quiz in the dust of a set of tracks.
So now that I’m in the autumn of my years as the song goes, tell us about Leopold and South Fork, which is easy, and yourself, which is not. The short, to the point story is great teachers, mentors, and the Boy Scouts. I’ve taught with and without classrooms, in and outside of Arkansas, and had students from grades 2-college and adults of all ages.
W. C. Fields advised, ”Never follow the animal act!” Don’t go into outdoor education, if you can’t stand being upstaged by Nature….Get Used To It! In nearly 50 years of teaching that started in the Boy Scouts, I’ve been turned invisible by a 12 point mule deer dining on prickly pear about 30 feet behind me and struck mute by a Coopers Hawk having a park pigeon for lunch during my birdsongs of Leopold activity. I suspect there will be more. So learn when the teachable moment is upon you and let Nature take over.
1st Rule to Teaching Outside- Know when to Shut Up! and do it often.
South Fork Nature Center is committed to providing enhanced, outdoor educational opportunities on a regional basis. We can do this because of the Gates-Rogers Foundation commitment to protecting and preserving Arkansas native flora and fauna in a manner that ensures and encourages public access,…that’s us! And this happens because the Foundation is dedicated to the development, application, and dissemination of ecologically sound land management practices that further this mission. To Aldo Leopold, this is a Land Ethic.
In striving to find harmony between men and land, through A Sand County Almanac and sketches here and there, Leopold crafts The Land Ethic and his challenge , There is as yet no ethic dealing with man’s relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it. Land, like Odysseus’ slave-girls, is still property. The land-relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not obligations. Our mission states the obligations to our Land Ethic. The Aldo Leopold Foundation’s mission is to foster a land ethic through the legacy of Aldo Leopold with a vision to weave a land ethic into the fabric of our society; to advance the understanding, stewardship and restoration of land health… Great Foundations think alike!
Obviously, education is required to develop ones Land Ethic. For Leopold, it was a “liberal education in wildlife…” What is less obvious is how it starts. The when it started is when you were young and in your favorite place to play. The instant you finished the last sentence that place came front and center in your mind. You saw yourself in that place. You could feel it, hear it, smell it. The games you played were unstructured except by your imagination and you were in Nature. Whether it was woods behind grandpa’s farm or a vacant lot in an inner city, you found Nature on your own and through play your land ethic education began.
Research over decades continues to support improvements in student achievement when nature experiences are the contextual frame for learning. Why do school districts in Southern Illinois have nearly 50 years of camp and outdoor education as part of the middle school curriculum? Because it works!
The Aldo Leopold Foundation through its education arm the Leopold Education Project (LEP) has released a new set of activities to help educators shape the land ethic for future generations. Along with other materials, the new Interdisciplinary Land Ethic Curriculum, is based on Leopold’s conservation philosophy. But the LEP curriculum should not stand alone. It needs integration into the excellent natural resource curricula that have been around far longer. These curricula focus on forest resources, Project Learning Tree-PLT; water resources, Project WET; and wildlife resources, Project WILD. All these curricula are taught through one day workshops year round in Arkansas. We will have dates in 2017 at SFNC to get you started and hit the trail teaching.
2nd Rule to Teaching Outside- All great curriculum is stolen. Steal some, Get trained!
The cover of the new LEP curriculum is our Mission Image: It’s not my, or your Land Ethic that needs developing; it’s those two kids. Our two, South Fork kids. In the July essay, Prairie Birthday, Leopold laments the sorry condition of land health when once extensive populations of compass plant are relegated to the unmowed strip of an 1840’s graveyard, and will anyone ever again care about loss of fauna, flora, or habitat. What a thousand acres of Silphiums looked like when they tickled the bellies of buffalo is a question never again to be answered, and perhaps never asked. Never asked….It will be at South Fork!
Our brains come pre-programmed and wired for the natural world. No additional apps or software upgrades are needed. Updates are 24/7. Overtime we have evolved a sixth sense to the five biological ones. The sense of Wonder. Nature makes us wonder in two ways. We wonder because we are curious (left brain) and we wonder because we are in awe of Nature (right brain). Nature Deficient Disorder is very real, very prevalent, and very damaging to our brains and sense of Wonder. The objective to teach the student to see the land, to understand what he sees, and enjoy what he understands falls in all our laps. It’s one of those obligations to give back to the land. Your love of nature is all you need to share with a child.
So no one should be surprised that many of our docents as well as nature centers nationwide, are educators, some never stood in front of a blackboard. Too many would be docents have the desire, but lack the “knowledge” to go into nature with our youth. If this is you, then let me assure you that it’s 99% desire and 1% knowledge, which is the easiest to acquire. Aldo would say to you that a, Liberal education in wildlife is not merely a dilute dosage of technical education. It calls for somewhat different teaching materials and sometimes even different teachers. The objective is to teach….
3rd Rule to Teaching Outside- Share your sense of Wonder with a child.
Volunteer to be a South Fork Nature Center docent!!
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